They will say the police officer who first arrested Greste wrongly claimed the Australian was employed by Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr - a live Arabic channel which Egyptian authorities suspect of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.

"This is a problem, the report of the officer said these people are working in Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr, but really they are working for Al Jazeera English," Mr Farag said.

"This is a very important point in our defence."

The network's lawyers will also call on Greste's reporting record as part of his defence.

They have requested from Al Jazeera every single report the correspondent made from Egypt. If necessary, the reports will be viewed in court.

Greste's lawyers will also seek to split the case in two.

A total of 20 people have been indicted in the case, but Mr Farag says only 10 are linked to Al Jazeera.

He says the other 10 are suspected Muslim Brotherhood members accused of making anti-government propaganda videos.

He says these two groups of defendants should be separated.

Al Jazeera English head of newsgathering Heather Allan is also in Cairo for the hearing.

She says she is confident her employees will receive a fair trial.

I'm sure Peter Greste will be freed, because he's not guilty.

Attorney Farag Fathy Farag

"Up until now our guys have been questioned a lot but we've never had the chance to actually refute the arguments against us," she said.

"At least now that we're in a court of law, we'll go for it."

Greste's brother Andrew has seen him in prison ahead of today's hearing.

"We clearly would desperately want the bail application to be accepted and granted.

"But, of course, as far as we are concerned, he's entirely and completely innocent and he should be either back home here or at his usual job in Nairobi."

Ms Greste also thanked the Australian public for rallying behind her son.

"People have come out of nowhere to support us morally and spiritually," she said.

"It has been tremendous, otherwise truly we wouldn't have been able to keep ourselves together and maintain the very intense campaign that this has turned into."

Protesters gather outside Egyptian embassy in London

Around 50 demonstrators gathered outside the Egyptian embassy in London overnight to call for the accused journalists to be freed.

They held placards and taped over their mouths during the protest.

Sue Turton, a former presenter for Britain's Channel 4 television who now works for Al Jazeera, described Greste as a "measured and balanced journalist" and called on the judges to do the right thing and release him.

"We are trying to show the Egyptian government we are all watching and we're all journalists concerned with... press freedom for all journalists," she said.

More than 38,000 people have signed a petition started by Greste's parents and the global campaign movement Avaaz.

The petition will be handed in to the Egyptian government before the trial begins.